Shinra's Elite
by PhantomFanfic
Summary: The Turks embark on a new mission to protect Shinra and the world from an Evil force on the Horizon. What'll happen when the FF7 crew leave the Fate of the World in the hands of Shinra's greatest agents.
1. Prologue

**Final Fantasy VII**

**Shinra's Elite**

**Prologue**

Three years ago Sephiroth, a member of the elite "SOLDIER" unit of the Shinra Corporation, attempted to destroy the planet. As he moved towards this goal he killed many people including the president of the Shinra Corporation and the last of the Cetra. Sephiroth, the experiments that made him and indeed all of Shinra Corp. had a lot to answer for, because since the day Sephiroth destroyed the city of Midgar things had gone from bad to worse.

It's been one year after the virus "Geostigma" and the remnants of Sephiroth's mother "Jenova" drastically reduced the population of Edge City which had been built around the remains of Midgar, thus its name. Rufus Shinra has had the building in which his father's company thrived, torn down and rebuilt. Now his newly reformed company (In more ways than one) has begun to fight for domain over the provision of power to the world. Meanwhile Reno, a member of Shinra Corporation's "Turk" unit, sat impatiently drumming his fingers on the table of the Shinra lab waiting to be told what he was there for.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Reno's New Toy**

"Hurry it up already!" Reno shouted as his mind began to go numb, even for his standards.

"Will you shut up!" retorted an attractive woman as she entered the room. As far as Reno thought, she didn't look the science type. She is about 5ft 8in including heels, has jet black hair down to her shoulders and beneath a long white lab coat wore a white T-shirt and black shorts. The elbow on which Reno was leaning suddenly gave way and his jaw gave a loud crack as it slammed against the stainless steel surface of the table. Mouth throbbing, he instantly tried to compose himself with a very ill conceived attempt to be cool.

"Hi, have we met?" he said in an obviously bad attempt to be casual.

"No, but I must say you'd make an incredibly interesting research subject." replied the woman.

"Oh Really." Reno said, implying something sleazy.

"Yes, after all, you're the only person I've met who can provide first-hand input about living without a brain." The woman said as briskly as ever. Angry and rejected, Reno burst out.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ANYWAY?" The woman, taken aback by this spouted.

"Doctor Esprid and before you say anything else stupid! That's my first name! Not my last! And my phone number is too long for an idiot like you to remember!"

"Glad to see you two are getting along" Before this could go on any further, Rufus Shinra had entered the room. Horrified, both of them turned to face the president of Shinra Corp.

"Doctor, if you're done wasting time I suggest you show us what we came to see." Rufus ordered, more casual than Reno could ever be.

"Yes Sir! Right away!" Esprid frantically searched the table in a panic.

"What the Fuck!" Reno exclaimed as he looked upon the thin black tonfa-like weapon being held up by the Doctor.

After a long, complicated and very boring explanation, Reno managed to sum it up to this:

"So this thing has the ability to condense Mako and then channel it down through the other end. But….doesn't condensed Mako just make materia?"

"You're right, to an extent. When Mako condenses, materia is made, but that's only when a high amount of pressure is exerted. In this device it only condenses it enough to extract the knowledge within. That's why we're giving you these extra cartridges because you'll have to reload after the power runs out. As a result of this temp-magic it means however that you will, as an up side, get a much stronger force than you would from materia" Reno, now totally impressed by his new gadget, had only one last thing to ask.

"But Sir, I thought we weren't going to produce Mako energy anymore?" To this Rufus replied bleakly.

"We're not. Let me make one thing clear to you Reno. This is the last of the Mako Shinra has to offer, once it's gone, it's gone. No refills O.K." At the look on Reno's face the President knew it had sunk in, and left. That is to say, he left Reno running wild throughout the building, showing off to everyone and anyone who would listen to him, and even those who wouldn't.

Eventually Reno ran into the training centre to try and find his less than willing accomplice and fellow Turk, Rude. It didn't take long for him to find Rude as he was stood there beating a punching bag into submission. Although they were the best of friends Reno and Rude were a strange sight to behold. Reno is about 5ft 8in with spiky red hair, has a pony tail halfway down his back and could never be seen without his goggles or with a tidy uniform for that matter. Rude on the other hand stands roughly 6ft with a black goatee and always wore a pair of sunglasses and kept an overall neat appearance.

"Yo, Rude check this thing out. Isn't it awesome?" Reno stated gleefully.

"What is it?" Rude stared at the object with mild interest.

"The Doc called it the Mako Pressure Converter or M.P.C for short"

"M.P.C. huh?"

"Screw that! It sounds lame! I'll come up with something better"

"Whatever you say. By the way, this "Doc" you mentioned?"

"Oh right. She's this weirdo takin' over for Hojo. Not surprisingly she's a pain in the ass like he was"

"And?"

"And…What! She's a nuisance O.K. nothing else. No "And?" Alright!"

At that point an alarm sounded, and the two Turks were on duty.

Some Anti-Shinra activists had broken in and were proceeding to attack employees. This had been a regular occurrence ever since Shinra Head Quarters had been rebuilt and until regular security was back, this was the Turks regular job with the exception that this was no regular activist. As Reno and Rude walked into the lobby they saw a man wearing a 1st Class SOLDIER uniform with a long black sleeve on the left side, with an also added hood they could see nothing of the man's face apart from a cigarette that hung from where they assumed his mouth was. The man raised his hand to his mouth took one last draw of the cigarette before flicking it at Rude. Had he not been concentrating on other things, Rude might have thought more of this insult, but for the time all Rude could think about was how empty it was. They had gotten reports of an attack and yet there wasn't a speck of blood, not a bit of damage to the place. There was nothing but the two Turks and this man in the whole lobby. Finally the man spoke

"Reno, Rude good to see you again. You remember this don't you?" as he finished talking a large sword, as if washed in by the waves of darkness that flowed in from the night through the open doors, flew through the air and dug itself into the ground in front of them. Of course they remembered it, it was none other than the Buster sword, but that could only mean….Before they had time to think this through, the man ripped the sword from the ground and brought it down hard on Reno. He threw his weapon up to block and with barely more than an arm's width between him and the blade; Reno thanked the Gods that rusting did the Buster sword no favours. While the man pressed down with his right on Reno, he held Rude off with his left. Finally Rude got a hit in; they heard a dull crunch as the man's elbow twisted in towards his body, at that time Rude saw a glint from under the hood. There was no mistaking it; those were mako eyes, the symbol of SOLDIER. Apparently everyone but the man knew his arm had broke, his only reaction was to raise his good arm and take a swing at Rude. Reno took his chance; angry that he needed to use it already, he swiped a cartridge from his belt and rammed it into his weapon. The reaction was instant, a jet of fire ignited the end and with one swift blow the man was driven back towards the doors. Before the Turks could apprehend him he swung the sword onto his shoulder and with one mighty cleave, a tremendous beam of energy forced the Turks aside and split the lobby in two.

All that was left of the man was the sword buried deep in the floor. They assumed that with only one arm he didn't have the strength to wrench it up as he left.

After filing their reports they decided to "return" the sword. Knowing exactly who owned it made it easy. On the way into Edge City Reno thought of only one thing.

"I'll call you the Aerith, in memory of an old friend" He stared at his new weapon the whole way into the city.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Competition**

The car pulled up in front of a small bar called the "7th Heaven" Along with Reno and Rude there was the other two members of the Turks, Tseng and Elena. Tseng is about 5ft 10in with long black hair. Leader of the Turks he is an expert in deployment tactics and communications and on top of that isn't half bad with a gun. Elena is roughly 5ft 6in with short blonde hair that covers her left eye. She specializes in using explosive based attacks to inflict various ailments to her opponent. They stepped into the bar and Reno yelled.

"Hey Tifa, you here?" Soon after two small children ran out from behind the bar.

"Hi Reno, is it Friday already?" asked the boy.

"No Denzel I'm not here for a drink today" The other Turks eyed Reno up suspiciously.

"Hey! A guy's gotta drink sometime O.K. Anyway, Marlene is Tifa here?" Before the girl could answer a voice came from behind the bar.

"Reno you better have the money for that tab you racked up or so help me I'll…" Before Tifa could finish Reno interrupted.

"Hey! Relax I get paid tomorrow alright. By the way, is Cloud here?"

"No. Why?"

"Because he left this! In our lobby!" Reno said through gritted teeth as he took the Buster sword from Rude and laid it flat on the counter.

"What do you think your doing Reno?! I haven't seen Cloud in three days and then you walk in here saying he had a crack at the Shinra building! What the hell are you up to?!" Tifa was furious, but before anyone could try and calm her down a man stepped into the bar.

"Can I get a drink?" The man had green hair and a scar that ran down the right side of his face and over his eye. The side of his hair that the scar ran down was shaven short while the other side grew freely. He wore a similar uniform to the man who attacked the Shinra building. If it weren't for a few differences and the fact that this man had no broken arm they would have sworn it had been him that committed the act. They stood there perplexed for a moment when the man said again.

"Can I get a drink?! Come on lady, it's been a long day and I've still got work to do!" The man was carrying two large cases. He let them drop to the floor with a loud bang and took a few steps forward. He then put his fist through a table. Now aware of his intentions the Turks readied themselves for a fight.

"Tifa, take the kids in back, we'll handle this" Having dropped part of Midgar on her last place the Turks were determined not to owe Tifa another bar.

"Who are you?" Tseng demanded.

"Me, I'm just a wanderin' musician" said the man as he crossed to his cases. He flung them open and quicker than they could react he was ready to fight.

"The name's Sina and your toast!"

Sina stood on a hover board wielding a guitar. The Turks perplexed once more, lunged at Sina only to have him easily dodge their attacks. Tseng fired a few shots at him but when Sina struck a cord; a sonic wave dispersed the bullets and sent one right back into Tseng's leg. Sina then hit a lower note and blew the Turks and half of the bar out into the street.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a little number I like to call, The Funeral Note." As Sina was about to strike a final time a voice called out from on top of a building. There on the roof stood a man with spikey blue hair some of which hung down over his right eye. On his face they could see part of a tattoo and the visible eye looked as if it belonged more to an animal than a man.

"Stop fooling around and get to work!" The man barked at Sina.

"I only wanted a drink." Sina whined.

"Silence! Go and meet Archer before I lose what little patience I have left with you." The Turks didn't even have time to turn their heads before both men were out of sight.

The next day Reno and the others were informed by Doctor Esprid that Tseng wouldn't be returning to duty for a while due to his injuries. Frighteningly it was Reno who decided their next action. They went to the lab with the cigarette their attacker left behind and the two names they had from the last battle and tried to find out if there were any matches in the Shinra mainframe. It turned out that the "Archer" mentioned before was the man from the lobby and that he and Sina were both EX-SOLDIER members. The weirdest thing was yet to come, as in both their files it read that after a transfer from 1st class SOLDIER they were both still recorded as on the Shinra payroll but there were no details of unit or assignment. In fact the only lead was that Archer had been part of an experiment conducted by Hojo at the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Hojo's Last Laugh**

As the helicopter soared towards Nibelheim, Elena sat quietly thinking of the horrors that went on inside the Shinra mansion. The place in which the Jenova project was born, where Zack and Cloud were brutally tortured and finally where Sephiroth's madness took root. As they descended on the town they were shocked to find it abandoned. Not a single person was to be found, only monsters and scavengers now called this place home. The three made their way up to the mansion, once inside it appeared that someone had "redecorated" Each of them was suddenly grabbed by strange machines which dragged them off to different parts of the building. Once they had stopped after their capture a voice boomed throughout the mansion.

"Hello unwelcome guests. This is Professor Hojo, speaking to you from beyond the grave. As I'm sure you won't understand I'll explain it. I have linked a computer hidden in this building to a monitor attached to my heart. When it stops beating the computer will activate and retrofit this place to suit my needs. After that it will carry out a series of experiments in my name that were not likely to yield results in my lifetime. But because you bumbling idiots! Have interrupted this work, you will have to be destroyed before you can screw any thing up! Goodbye." As the transmission faded each Turk became cautious of their surroundings, wondering what twisted idea of Hojo's would be their undoing.

While Reno inspected the steel plated walls around him a door opened and in lumbered a titanic mass of muscle whose face was twisted into a grotesque look of pain. Reno guessed that this poor beast was once human, but that would still make him show no mercy as he was sure that this person wanted nothing more than their own death. Meanwhile Rude stood in the middle of the room. He cracked his knuckles and started pounding on the door as the walls slowly closed in on him. Elena was in more trouble than the other two as Hojo's sick sense of humour had designed her room to poison her and leave her a few clues to the key code on the vaccine cabinet.

Reno having spotted a tattoo on the monster which read "20" He assumed this thing was called Green twenty, but as far as Reno was concerned knowing this particular experiment's name didn't make it's last blow to his guts any less painful. He composed himself and decided that life and death was definitely one of those sparing moments for a cartridge.

"Alright Green meanie, how would you like some blizzard magic, huh?" Reno picked the cartridge carefully from his belt and loaded it into the Aerith. The end began to sparkle with snow flakes as he ran forward and buried the end of the tonfa in the beast's face. The experiment froze over and shattered to pieces as Reno left saying "Hate to give you the cold-shoulder, but I'm outta here." Rude, now having to stand sideways to it, delivered one last punch to the door with his bloodied hand and it broke free of it's hinges as it sailed down the corridor. Rude straightened his tie and left. Elena typed frantically on the keypad getting nowhere with the clues she was given. Then it struck her, Hojo was full of it! He thought that everyone was beneath him and that anything he could understand was far too complicated for anyone else. So to make this a fair game, the code would have to be something that even Hojo would find annoyingly simple. Armed with this knowledge she typed in Hojo's locker combination and was soon walking out with the vaccine in hand. Having met up again in the corridor, they exchanged stories.

"I just whipped one of Hojo's twisted experiments."

"Steel door."

"It turns out listening to that bastard drone on in the locker room, wasn't a complete waste of time." After coming to the conclusion that the computer mentioned was probably in the basement, the three hurried to the secret entrance. It was sealed tight so unfortunately Reno had to use another cartridge.

"Alrighty, Here comes a quake!" Slamming the Aerith into the door, it soon crumbled under the force and the three moved on. As they carried on down the corridor to the basement they saw numerous little robots setting up machines and toying with row after row of test tubes and beakers. When they entered the room at the end of the hall there it was, a towering mass of electronics with hundreds of wires running out to unseen locations. The voice of Hojo again filled the air.

"How very amusing. I figured that there may be someone skilled enough, strong enough or smart enough to make it through my death traps so I decided to program the computer to unleash a little friend of mine if you were too stupid to leave after the first run! So presenting experiment Blue twelve or as I have affectionately named him, Ripper. Good luck, you'll need it! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" As the voice faded a large cylinder at the other end of the room opened and out of it stepped a huge monster. It looked to them like a big bulldog with no fur and tusks coming up from its jaw. It was armoured in places and to make things worse for the Turks it had a mini gun attached to its underbelly.

Reno reloaded the Aerith once more. Rude clenched his fists ready to fight and Elena pulled a grenade from her pocket. Ripper leapt forward and knocked Reno and Elena aside while pinning Rude to the wall. The mini gun rotated and began to fire from the gaps between its legs. Elena threw the grenade underneath it, but this did nothing but anger the beast. It let Rude down and began to charge at Elena. Reno swung the Aerith hard and hit it with a lightning bolt. The creature was stunned for a moment and its weapon was disabled, but that didn't stop it from tossing Reno aside like a rag doll once its senses returned. With Elena cornered and Rude injured the out come looked bleak, so Reno made the decision to load again.

As Ripper was about to end Elena's life the Turks sprang into action, Rude got up and charged into the beast, pushing it back into its container. Elena threw a bolt plume, an object that unleashes lightning, and that was followed by an angry Reno whose tonfa was surrounded with an impressive black aura. After being paralyzed by the bolt, Reno struck the experiment and the life was crushed out of it by the Demi magic that flowed through the Aerith.

They searched the computer to find that the experiment preformed on Archer was to replace his left arm with machinery; the horrible part of this project was that being one of Hojo's experiments, the observation of the subject's reaction was crucial so no anaesthetic was applied. They eventually found what they were looking for; the experiment was charged to the budget of the "Black Phoenix Squad". They duplicated the files and shutdown the computer leaving Nibelheim and Hojo's experiments to rot.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The New Guy**

The Turks had to stop off in Junon to refuel the helicopter. While there Rude suggested that since most members of SOLDIER were stationed here why not check for their suspects. They split up and searched, trying to find clues to the people they encountered. Reno searched the barracks while Elena checked the database for any forwarding address, as if she'd find one. Rude had decided to go to the underwater reactor on the theory that if they were to create trouble in Junon now, that's where they'd be. As if fate were laughing at him, that's exactly where Rude found the man who had stood on the rooftop.

"I am Demarath" He announced as Rude approached. He looked on apprehensively as Demarath drew his sword. Before Rude could stop him he drove the blade into the thick glass that separated them from the ocean outside. The glass cracked and water started pouring in, Demarath headed for the reactor and Rude waded through the water in pursuit. When Rude entered the reactor the blast doors sealed behind him and the water soon thinned out. He made his way to the submarine dock following a trail of bloodshed to find Demarath cutting down Shinra troops as if they were nothing. Rude ran forward and struck him. Although Demarath's head turned, the punch in which Rude had thrown all his might seemed to have had no other effect whatsoever. "So the Turk wants to play!" Demarath dropped his sword and swung his fist into Rude's face. To Rude this impact felt like the 9:20 train to sector 7 would come screeching to a halt right after it, but for some reason he thought that this was no more than a tap compared to what Demarath was capable of. As he hit the ground Demarath picked up his sword again and walked towards him, the blade raised above his head to deliver the final blow. When the sword came down an ear-splitting yell filled the air.

A soldier stood on the turret of a nearby sub, leaning on the gun and holding it in place for all he was worth as he emptied round after round into Demarath's body. Eventually the smell of gun powder filled the dock as the barrel of the gun fired off its last bullet.

"Is that all you've got?!" Demarath's top half, which sat back as if he were about to fall over, suddenly lurched forward and Rude could see nothing in his face but pure hatred. The soldier stepped back as if to run, but Demarath descended on him like a tiger lunging on its prey. It appeared the soldier wasn't running anywhere, but he had turned to retrieve what he had dropped.

"SURPRIZE, Bitch!" The look on Demarath's face was not to be missed as a rocket propelled him into the air before exploding and dropping him back to the solid concrete below. He got up just in time to see Rude put on a new pair of sunglasses. "You broke my shades." Rude punched Demarath and this time he soared into the back wall before dropping into the water below. Although blood filled the water, Rude was sure they had not seen the last of him.

The alarms sounded all around them as Reno and Elena stood in the centre of Junon. It appeared that someone had destroyed the passage to the underwater reactor. When they made it there the path was blocked by two 2nd class members of SOLDIER.

"Hey you two, let us by we're Turks, understand!" The soldiers started laughing and one of them replied.

"You honestly think Demarath wants any more Turks butting in after the last guy went in there." It was obvious that these men were not under any sort of Shinra command. Reno decided to act first and delivered a roundhouse kick to one of them, before the other could do anything in retaliation Elena had generously given him a grenade to hold. By the time he realized it was a dud and that the Turks weren't stupid enough to blow themselves up, Elena had prepared a kick to his "sensitive area" Something even SOLDIER, aren't capable of handling. When they were done with the guards they found out that it wasn't possible to progress anyway as the blast doors separated them from the rising current on the other side.

"You're a Turk right. The name's Sebastian." As the soldier took off his helmet Rude saw a mess of spiked up ginger hair and an eye patch. Sebastian had been the demolitions expert on the squad that was just wiped out. Rude began to wonder how a man with no left eye was a soldier but had decided to avoid the question. A creaking noise suddenly interrupted whatever Sebastian was about to say.

"That would be our cue to leave!" Sebastian said heading for the sub.

"What's happening?" Rude inquired also hopping aboard the sub.

"When the tube got busted we lost the equal air pressure with outside, so as a result the millions of gallons of water that were kept out by that pressure are going to try and flood in here."

"Why the rush?"

"Well if we're not out when the water comes in. Forget being smashed like a can against the ceiling, when the cold water hits the reactor we'll be boiled like rice!" Upon that note the sub took off, but didn't manage to escape the vent of steam that propelled them towards the surface.

"Damn it!" Reno shouted as he punched the tarmac beneath him. Thinking that they'd never see their team mate again, Elena stood close to tears while Reno was down on all fours cursing Rude's choice to go to the reactor. As Reno slouched back up onto his knees to take a breath, his jaw dropped at the sight that greeted him. There on the horizon, a submarine had suddenly lifted a good one hundred feet into the air before splashing back down. They rushed to meet the sub's slow return to port; as they did they saw a rather startled looking Rude on deck. As the sub pulled in the other Turks cheered the triumphant return of their missing member.

Before getting off the sub however Rude had one more bit of business to attend to. "You O.K. Sir?" Sebastian said merrily as Rude came back below deck.

"You looked a bit shaken on the way down."

"The name's Rude. Here." Giving a confused Sebastian a business card, Rude left saying.

"Since you need a new job, you start on Friday. Don't be late."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: On The "Edge"**

As Friday began the Turks waited in the lobby for their newest member to arrive, preoccupying themselves with what went on around them. Reno took to watching one of the many nameless Shinra secretaries bend over the photocopier; Elena sat and watched the Shinra maintenance crew resurfacing the lobby and all while Rude stood there impatiently checking his watch every minute or so. Finally, Sebastian walked in the door.

"Wow, was that rough" He stated as cheerily as ever. Sebastian stood there, his uniform was disorganised, the top button of his shirt and his whole jacket were unbuttoned, his shirt tails hung out and the sleeves of both his shirt and jacket were rolled up to his elbows. In his hand was a large sports bag in which Rude assumed was the rocket launcher he used on Demarath.

"What was rough?" Reno inquired, taking his eyes off the secretary.

"The way here. The big bridge that connects this building to the city is packed with protestors and they all look really mad." Sebastian said not looking particularly bothered.

"O.K. buddy this is your first assignment." Reno said, slapping Sebastian on the shoulder.

"Already! So what's the job?" Sebastian replied enthusiastically.

"Simple. You turn your sorry ass around, go that way and take care of the protestors!" Reno said getting progressively louder as he wheeled Sebastian around and shoved him out the door before following.

The Turks drove down the bridge until they reached the mob of people now having to be held back by the few Shinra guards that were on hand. As they moved up to the barricade a man broke through the soldiers and ran at Reno, a knife held at arms length ready to stab him. Reno moved to the side and grabbed the man's wrist before bringing the Aerith down on his elbow. The man dropped the knife and slumped to his knees, cradling his now broken arm. Yells of profanities and things like "So much for the reformed Shinra!" arose from the crowd as Reno turned back to face them. The people on the bridge now began to force their way past the guards. Unfortunately harming unarmed people was not an option so the Turks could do nothing to stop them from charging towards the Shinra building.

After being beaten and trampled by the mob, the Turks dragged themselves off the road and made their way back towards the centre of Midgar. They got there just in time to hear an announcement over the intercom.

"Attention Shinra security forces. You have been given authorization to use whatever force you deem necessary to stop this act of violence." Upon that note the Turks saw a group of five guards dressed in white come round the corner. They raised their rifles and proceeded to gun down every protestor in sight until the lobby was covered in blood. They moved on before the Turks could do anything to argue the extent of "necessary force" that was needed here. They made their way up the building, knocking out what protestors they came across. When they entered Rufus Shinra's office they saw him sitting there watching security monitors with a shotgun across his lap. Rufus got up from his chair slowly and crossed the room to a fire alarm on the wall. He hit it with the butt of his gun and the alarm sounded throughout the building. "You four should get down stairs quickly. There's a man in the lobby with a bomb strapped to his chest and I somehow doubt a fire is going to deter him." As he finished speaking Rufus returned to his chair and the Turks headed for the elevator.

"Please reframe from using the elevator at this time." said a female voice as Reno began hammering the button for the lobby.

"Look lady, I don't have time for this shit!" He stated, still hammering the button. Eventually the elevator started to move. As they entered the lobby they saw the man with the bomb, laughing maniacally.

"Hey, why don't we all just calm down and not blow everything up, O.K." Reno said to the man as they approached.

"Yeah right Shinra scum! The instant I let go of the detonator you'll kill me!" retorted the man with a now a very frightened tone to his voice.

"What type of psycho do you take me for?" Reno yelled indignantly as the others held him back. At that the man took off out the door and was soon pursued by the Turks.

Now on the bridge, the man stopped running.

"Now we're outside, I'll blow you all to kingdom come!" The man began yelling.

"As if. If you had the guts you would have done it already." Reno replied, his patience wearing thin with the man. "That's what you think! I've heard of President Shinra's habit of living through explosions, but I wonder how long everyone will last when they're stuck on this rock in the middle of Midgar."

"How stupid are you?! Not only is there like a couple of months worth of food in that building, but there's a helicopter parked on the fucking roof, Numb Nuts!"

"Not any more. You see, I have a radio and my friends called in earlier to say that they'd blown up the food supplies and have taken the helicopter."

"Tell me did ya draw straws on who got to blow themselves up, or did you volunteer!"

"Heh heh. When I blow out this bridge, the power, phones and any way you had outta this is gone!" The man clicked the detonator, and before they had time to run the Turks were falling through the air towards the bottom of Midgar.

Reno, whose head had begun to throb, picked himself off the ground. He thanked whatever celestial being had first labelled the Turks as "Indestructible" and started to look for the others. He found Sebastian first; who was firing large flares into the air with the rocket launcher Reno assumed came from the sports bag. After the two of them found Elena, who started whining about the state of her uniform, and Rude, who was found beating up a bunch of monsters nearby, they decided to come up with a plan.

"Well I'm open to ideas." Sebastian stated, sitting down on a mound of rubble.

"We can't go to the building because there's no way in through the base and chances are that with the state of things up there it'll be too late to save anyone by the time those flares are answered." Reno said now pacing along the small patch of dirt he found amongst the piles of rubble.

"Edge." Rude pointed towards the lights that flickered on as night began to descend on the City.

"Something tells me I won't be getting the weekend off." Elena thought mentally scrapping her plans.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: An Old "Friend"**

They had been walking silently for what must have been an hour or so when Elena asked the obvious question.

"What'll we do once we're in Edge?" Reno thought for a moment before giving his reply.

"We should head to whoever's house is closest, get a change of clothes and some rest. We'll need it if we don't want to be attacked in the streets." The others gave no objections to this plan. They decided to rest before moving on. Elena looked up towards the Shinra building, what was once the pinnacle of technology in Midgar, now sat dark as a stain against the night sky. She began to wonder how, after trying to make up for past wrongs, this venomous act took place. They sat in silence, all of them asking themselves how it had fallen apart so horribly. After what seemed like an eternity, they moved on. The ruins of the City began to awaken as monsters started to crawl out of their hiding spots, before anything could be done the Turks were surrounded. They all stood back to back, ready for what would almost certainly be their final fight.

At the same time, a young man with silver hair walked the streets of Edge City. "Why did you send me here, of all places?" He stood asking aloud to the empty streets.

"Why am I here?" he thought to himself. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks; he could hear voices coming from the ruins of Midgar. He looked down at the City to see a dense mass of monsters closing in on what looked to be four people as far as he could tell from the random flashes that dispersed the monsters. He started running towards the fight, clearing the path of monsters as he went.

Reno's eyes widened as he looked on in shock at who had come to their aid.

"Who the hell is that?!" Sebastian inquired.

"It can't be!" Elena exclaimed.

"No way!" Rude stated.

"Kadaj?" Reno said with a nervous grin creeping across his face. The young man that stood before them was none other than Kadaj, who had threatened to destroy the planet a year ago, just like his "Big Brother" had threatened to do so two years before that. It took Reno a moment to see that something had changed in Kadaj. Although not evident in his outward appearance, there was definitely something different. "Reno, have you heard from Mother?"

"Kadaj, if you just asked me that. Forget the monsters; I'll kick your ass up and down the city!"

"Right, Sorry about that." The four Turks and Kadaj began to destroy the hordes of monsters that flowed at them from the wreckage. Kadaj drew his sword, a katana with two blades side by side. Taking Reno's less than wise suggestion which was to "Follow my lead!" the pair began to fight as if they had done this before, covering each other and wiping out whatever got in the way. Eventually the waves of monsters subsided and they were free to lay the remains of Midgar to rest.

Having made it to Reno's apartment, they all sat down to rest. Elena was too worried to let it slip by so she decided to ask.

"Kadaj. What did you mean when you said 'Have you heard from Mother?'?"

"I meant just that." Kadaj replied smiling.

"Yeah but, when you said 'Mother' who did you mean?"

"She said you'd ask that before she sent me here. So she told me to say that 'Sis sent me' and that one of you would understand." Reno, who was standing in the doorway with his regular clothes on, suddenly went pale before composing himself and handing some civilian clothes to the other Turks.

"Kadaj, you need anything?" Reno asked as casually as possible.

"No thanks, I'm fine." he replied getting up from his seat. As he did the lights went out.

"FUCK! Someone must have taken out the city's power generator." Reno said aloud to the others.

"Someone will have to check it out." Elena suggested.

"I will." Rude said in his usual steady manner. The other Turks got changed before heading out onto the streets of the city. Everywhere they turned they saw people who were either running and screaming or joining in with the riots that were breaking out across Edge. The city was dark, there was no light that wasn't from burning cars or buildings and even though they had walked these streets many times, none of group had a clue as to where to go amongst the wretched landscape. Finally they came across a friendly face, sort of. Tifa was apparently better informed than they were as it turned out that she had been waiting for them. After several minutes of arguing and the repeated sentence of "WHERE THE FUCK DID HE COME FROM?!" Tifa finally made peace with the fact that Kadaj was there to help and explained what was happening.

"Look, Cloud and the others are taking care of what's going on here. So you guys can head back to the Shinra building and deal with the Coup de tat that those freaks from the other day are trying to implement on your boss." After hearing this the Turks and Kadaj set off towards the Shinra building, with the exception of Rude who had went towards the power plant. The Shinra building, although as dark as the rest of the city, was kind of hard to miss considering the pyrotechnics that went up from the makeshift stage that was set up on the Bridge.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Final Act Approaches**

As the group made their way across the bridge they saw what they had expected. There, hovering just above the stage was Sina who was playing a concert to a horde of cheering people.

"Oh! You're here!" He announced as they approached. Sebastian had seemed to have gotten the drill by now as he fired a shot into the air that dispersed the crowd.

"Hey! You scared off my audience. Oh well. Lemme introduce my band. These are the elite Shinra Blaze Troopers! Go on Boys, show'em what ya got!" As he stopped talking six of the white clad soldiers they had seen in the building came to the centre of the stage and began to fire at the Turks.

"I'll go on ahead." Kadaj shouted over the roar of the guns as he ran towards the stage before leaping over it and the gap caused earlier, onto the other side of the bridge.

Elena was the first to act throwing a stun grenade at the soldiers. Out of the six, two feel to their knees unable to avoid the effects of the blast. The other four having moved, Reno ran up and with another cartridge ready reduced the two troops to quivering masses as the effects of Bio began to have them violently wretch up their own internal organs. Slightly sickened by what he had just done, Reno barely managed to avoid being shot by the guards that remained. Having been concentrating on Reno they were not prepared for the grenade/rocket combo that gave them a one way ticket to the Life Stream.

A second rocket knocked down the mobile radio tower that broadcast Sina's show across the city. It fell over the gap and allowed them a way across. Reno didn't know if Sebastian had intended this effect or if a shot meant for Sina was marred by that pesky lack of depth perception, but whatever it was, he was thankful.

"It's rude to leave before the show is over!"

"Really, 'cause I don't see him around." Reno replied sarcastically.

"RENO GET DOWN!" Sebastian shouted as a flare propelled towards them. Reno dived to the floor as the flare ignited. Sina moved back, giving him enough time to make it across the gap without worrying.

"Elena, you go with him. I can handle this joker." Sebastian stated as Sina regained his senses. With one last worried look at Sebastian, she hurried after Reno.

Once the other Turks were safely out of the way Sebastian made clear what he intended to happen.

"Yo Music Man, I happen to have three rockets with a little extra kick, and just so you know, now that the others aren't around I've got no problems lighting these candles!"

"Well then, just so YOU know, I'm the fastest member of the Black Phoenix Squad. There's not a chance in hell of you hittin' me with one of those sooped up fire crackers!"

"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" Sebastian shouted, firing at Sina.

"Alright then. On with the show!" Sina said, striking a note and detonating the warhead before it even got close. Sina struck a cord and knocked Sebastian back into a food stand that some members of the crowd had apparently set up. Weapon still in hand, he dragged himself off the ground. He watched Sina's movements carefully, trying to anticipate his next attack. Without warning Sina flew forward in a Zigzag pattern before drifting behind Sebastian and striking him, point blank, in the back with the lowest cord on the guitar. Having now been blown back towards the stage, Sebastian got up slowly, trying to avoid agitating the severe pain that now ran the length of his spine.

"Oh, you can still stand. I have to say you're tougher than I gave you credit for, but that won't help you now" Having been laid back before, a stern look now appeared on Sina's face.

"Look Kid, I don't want to have to kill anybody, but if you keep this up I'll have to finish you off and that's not gonna look good towards my fans. You know what I'm sayin'?" Unfortunately for Sina, a day of working with Reno had already taught Sebastian how to tune out on the subject of anything unpleasant such as pain, death and worst of all, paperwork. So the rocket that blew him off his hover board and up onto the stage was unexpected to say the least.

"YOU BASTARD! THAT'S IT! NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! YOU'RE FINISHED!" Sina flicked a switch on his guitar and all the speakers around the stage began to turn on.

"You asked for it!" Sebastian's eyes widened as he was blown back by the tremendous sonic wave that after hitting him proceeded to annihilate the tarmac behind him. Sebastian, although still standing, was unable to see straight as he staggered towards his rocket launcher, pain was shooting through all his limbs as he reached down to pick it up.

"What's wrong Turk, can't handle the big amps." Sina stated, starting to laugh. Sebastian finally regained focus; he spotted his sports bag, which contained his nearly unlimited supply of ammo, four or five meters in the wreck ahead of him. He thought that if he could get to it without being attacked, he could grab his special rockets and it would all be over.

He ran. He ran like he had never done before and dived on his bag as a second wave of sound nearly swept him up off the ground. He sifted through the bag and pulled out a clip of rockets which he hastily shoved into the hole near the back end of the launcher. He raised it to his shoulder and fired off three rounds in quick succession. Two hit the speakers at either side and the third lodged itself between the lights at the top of the stage.

"Nice try idiot but you were way off. Seriously, I thought I had a blind spot, but you, you're just plain horrible at this aiming stuff!" Sina began laughing harder than before without noticing the huge grin that started to creep across Sebastian's face.

"Hey Green Peace, how do you suppose that I became a demolitions expert after only one week in the Shinra army?"

"How the hell should I know?!" Sina said dismissively.

"It's because I can judge what'll happen in any given situation, in an uncontrolled environment." To this statement Sina looked on apprehensively.

"It's called Chaos Theory, and I happen to have a P.H.D. in it." As Sebastian finished talking, the rocket that was above Sina detonated, bringing the entire stage down on top of him and impaling his body with several sharp lengths of metal. Sebastian looked on for a moment as the stage became engulfed in flames, before dropping flat on his front, blood streaming from his ears.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Lighting The Fuse**

Rude had made his way to the gates of the Shinra power plant. There he was greeted warmly by four Blaze Troopers each armed with his own customised ten gauge shotgun. After having ducked behind a heap of discarded oil drums, the Troopers amused themselves by taking pot shots every time Rude made an attempt to move from his hiding spot. Rude hastily came up with a plan. He shifted up onto one knee, drew back his fist, and sent the drums flying in every direction. The Troopers confused, and one flattened by a drum, began to move for cover as Rude headed towards the gate. The trooper that had been knocked over by the oil drum grabbed him by the ankle. As the others emerged to shoot Rude he picked the troop up and used him as a shield against the incoming fire. Hurling the dead soldier towards his companions, he followed closely and delivered a sharp blow to the guts of one troop while the other two were set upon by the rocketed corpse. When the remaining troops got to their feet, Rude dispatched them quick enough with a rib shattering punch to each.

Making his way inside, Rude soon came across the main power line. It was unfortunately beyond repair as there was a rather large fire axe buried in it. Rude began to wonder why there had been four guards outside when the damage here would've taken the entire night to fix. But as these thoughts came to their logical conclusion, the entire area was lit up. Standing atop the turbine, Archer was messing with sizable wads of plastic explosive.

"Hello Turkey! Boss Man keeps tellin' me not to smoke around this stuff, but I really don't see the problem." Archer held up the explosive that he had moulded into the shape of a skull before slamming it onto the top of the turbine. After that, he jumped from the top of the turbine and landed next to Rude.

"Well the flood lights are up, the explosives are set. I guess all that's left is to kill you and be done with it." Without his hood or left sleeve, Rude could see that Archer had a mass of long brown hair, brown eyes with a strange light to them and on top of everything else, a mechanical arm with several small canisters not unlike Reno's mako rounds lining it.

"Let's do this." Rude stated bluntly.

Mere minutes later, Rude was being slammed into just about any surface Archer could reach. The maniac had lost no time in proving who could cause more damage in close combat.

"So Turkey, You ready to call it quits?" Archer asked, lighting another smoke.

"Not a chance." Rude got to his feet slowly, giving himself a chance to refocus. As soon as Archer came into sight Rude had to dodge. Apparently the things up Archer's arm were mako shells. The Firaga that had singed the soles of his shoes went soaring into one of the floodlights and started to engulf that section of the room in flames.

"Now that could cause problems. Well we better hurry this up before we all go boom eh?" Archer smiled, this time launching an enormous pillar of ice at Rude. The Turk dodged the blow, but the way this battle was going was far from what he had hoped for.

Dodging yet another assault from Archer, it was obvious to Rude that this man had been made to fight from any distance. As his thoughts raced, Archer struck again, this time hitting the turbine with a sizable bolt. Seeing the electricity give the turbine a feeble burst of life provided Rude with the solution, but it appeared that this fight was nearing its end as Archer lit the last of his smokes.

"Alright Turkey, I'm on my last smoke and we're on our last two minutes before this place is supposed to explode. So it's time to use the last charge to bring this whole thing down." Archer tapped the mako canister on his shoulder. Proving just how insane he had become, this canister was marked 'Ultima' a spell that could, like he said, bring this entire place down with him inside.

It was now or never, if Rude did not enact his plan now then all would be lost. Running straight at Archer, Rude tackled him and ripped the Ultima can from his arm. Getting up from the scuffle, Rude ran in front of the turbine and waited. Archer glared at him, his eyes filled with malice.

"You've gone too far, no one takes stuff from my arm. Prof. Hojo gave me this arm to be the ultimate fighter. I'll admit I still wanted to kill him, but this is my trump and this sort of treatment to it will not be tolerated!" Archer lunged forward. Holding his ground until the very last second Rude dived out of the way. Archer's robotic arm pierced the turbine, getting jammed in the blades. Rude rushed to the side of the machine and opened a small panel.

"Thank you Emergency Materia Activation." He jammed a green material into the slot and watched as the turbine spluttered to life, further grinding Archer's arm with its renewed movement. After hearing the soldier rage about the fact that half his arm was still wrapped around the axel of the great machine, Rude was struck by another burst of inspiration. Walking over to Archer, he reinserted the Ultima canister.

"I'm leaving. You want to kill me, use that." Rude walked to the room's exit, wondering if Archer would be desperate enough to try and finish Rude off when he was about to die.

"Damn Turkey, so if I use the Ultima, we both die. If I use any other spell, my arm will explode and I'll die. I do nothing, the fire will blow the Plastique and I'll die. I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Rude shook his head in response. Archer dug another smoke from his pocket and lit it with his good arm.

"Those things will kill you." Rude said stoically as usual.

"Just get out before I blow your sorry ass up with me." Archer smiled as Rude rushed from the room, he didn't like to lose, but he knew when he was beat. Even if it meant giving the other Turks a signal of success, he would rather go on his own terms than theirs.

Rude made it outside just in time as the building exploded in a flash of brilliant white light. Being thrown a fair distance by the blast, Rude stood up and dusted himself off. He didn't know if it was a warrior's code, a grudging respect, or just plain insanity. But whatever it was, Archer had provided Rude with the world's biggest signal flare to his fellow Turks.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Ascension**

Reno and Elena had made it into the Shinra building with ease after getting past Sina's concert, but getting up the building seemed to be a much more daunting task as not only was the building in complete darkness, but it seemed that every monster from the ruins of Midgar had somehow made it inside. The two battled their way through wave after wave of the creatures until they eventually made it to about the twentieth floor. Walking across an empty room of cubicles, the lights suddenly sprung to life with the sound of a bolt. Looking ahead of them, Doctor Esprid had walked out putting on a pair of strangely mechanical looking gloves.

"I'm sorry you two, but I can't let you go any further." She said coldly.

"What the…That's it! The position is cursed! Why are all the head Lab People in this company complete back stabbing freaks!!!" Reno ranted his outrage at being out sneakified by lab rats too much for him to bear.

"Shut up! I don't have a choice in this." Esprid yelled at the flaming red head.

"How come?" Elena asked, keeping her head a lot better than her superior.

"Those SOLDIER Weirdoes have my little sister in the care of their Blaze Troopers, if I don't help them with the destruction of Shinra, they'll kill her." Tears welled up in the woman's eyes; there was no doubt in the truth of her words.

"Fine then, I guess we'll just have to beat you. For your sister's benefit, as strange as that sounds." Reno said with a confident smirk.

"Thank you Reno, but don't think that gesture means I can go easy on you!" Esprid wiped away her tears and activated her gloves.

Reno rushed forward, hoping to take the doctor out with one blow, but as soon as he got close an unseen force threw him back into the cubicles.

"What the hell was that?" He groaned, pulling himself up from the wreckage of several pencil pushers' work space.

"I built your M.P.C. Idiot, so long at there's more than the average amount of humanly occurring mako on you, these gloves will generate a field to repel it." Esprid barked at him. The obvious answer was to drop his gear and just sock her one, but what the good doctor seemed to be unaware of, was that Reno was an individual who had been through the mako shower.

"Brilliant." He muttered, looking around for something heavy he could throw at her. He looked up just in time to see Elena making her attempt. She had left her magic based gear behind her and was now fighting Esprid in hand to hand combat. Not only was the doctor an impressive fighter for a researcher, but the scene itself was fairly hot in Reno's opinion. After Esprid kneed Elena in the gut and threw her back, the Turks devised a plan.

"Hey Elena, that thing repels mako right, how much do you think it can take?" Reno whispered to his team mate. Elena gave a sinister grin (Or as sinister as a girl who kept a teddy bear in her desk draw could get) to Reno before gathering up her things.

Reno loaded the Aerith and waited for the signal. Elena suddenly gained a yellow glow as she rushed forward. Jumping into the air, she called out.

"Midgar Blitz!" Elena opened her arms and smothered Esprid's shield in magical explosions of every type. Reno, taking his chance, chased after her and with one great swing, broke the shield. As the gloves shorted out, leaving Esprid defenceless, Elena descended and delivered one solid punch to the doctor's jaw, knocking her out. Putting the unconscious Esprid in a nearby office out of the way, the two moved on.

Reno and Elena had made it about halfway up the Shinra Building. They stopped at a window, spotting the enormous white light coming from the power plant.

"RUDE!" Reno called out, desperately hoping his friend had made it out of the blaze.

"Reno, we have other problems." Reno turned to see what he could only assume were the last of the Blaze Troopers as the usual units of four had been abandoned for an eighteen strong group of them. The two Turks dived behind a help desk as a shotgun blast took out the phone. The shots rained down on them until the noise of one piercing shot and a trooper falling down dead silenced the fire. Reno and Elena looked at each other before sticking their heads out from behind the desk to see what happened. Tseng, leader of the Turks stood just at the top of the stairs, a cane in his left hand, a 44 Magnum in the other. The remaining troopers closed in on him, ready to fire. Tseng, to his subordinates' surprise, put the gun away.

"I had to battle the whole way up here on a bad leg; it was the kind of fight that pushes someone to their _limits._" Tseng smiled at them before putting his right hand on his cane and pulling out the sword concealed within it. A green glow surrounded him as he rushed past the guards at blinding speed, slicing them to ribbons as he went. After cutting the last of them across the midsection, he dropped to one knee; his limit broke in more ways than one.

The other Turks, who hadn't moved from behind the desk until now, rushed over to him.

"Tseng, that was good, never knew you had it in ya Boss." Reno said jokingly.

"Well I couldn't let you three have all the fun now could I?" Tseng laughed through gritted teeth.

"Sir, your leg is a mess; you must have ripped your stitches after that last move." Elena fussed over her boss like a worried mother.

"Elena, you stay here. I'll go help Kadaj." Reno rushed off, taking the nearby stairs two at a time.

"Kadaj?" Tseng looked confusedly at Elena.

Rushing up the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him; Reno eventually came to Rufus' office. There was no sign of his employer, but the door leading to the roof hung off one hinge. Reno darted up the stairs, hoping that he wasn't too late. To the Turk's dismay, the scene that was silhouetted in the moonlight said he was.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Shadows of Past Mistakes**

Reno ran out onto the roof of the building to find Demarath standing over Kadaj, who was trying desperately to breath despite the enormous gash across his chest. Reno rushed to the side of his old enemy and dropped to his knees next to him. Lifting Kadaj's upper half in some vain attempt to help, Reno could already see the young man's eyes clouding over like those of so many other lost comrades.

"Kadaj, Kadaj are you still with us?" Reno said desperately.

"Reno. I'm sorry I was no match for him. He's like Sephiroth; there is no pity, no regret, just hatred and a goal. I, I just couldn't win against him." Kadaj coughed up blood in an attempt to sit up.

"Don't move! You'll just die faster if you keep this up." Reno barked.

"Heh, its okay I've already died once, it isn't so bad. After all, if I hadn't, Mother wouldn't have given me this for you." Reno gazed at the plain silver locket Kadaj held up in his hand. Taking it from him, Reno flipped it open. On one side of the locket was a photo of Aerith, the flower girl Reno had been sent after so many times before, but had never succeeded in catching.

"I see, so that's why Sis sent you. Thank you Kadaj, you can return to the planet now. I'll handle the rest." The silver haired man smiled up at Reno before closing his eyes and disappearing as his body dispersed in a stream of green light. Getting to his feet, Reno tied the chain of the locket around his hand and stared at Demarath with eyes devoid of emotion.

The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity before Reno finally spoke.

"Kadaj said that you're like Sephiroth. I know you're not as strong as he was, so that obviously means that you're just a threat to the planet. But even if you're not, you still attacked innocent people, hurt my friends and dragged up crap I really didn't need reminded of. So I'm going to put you where you belong, in the trash with the rest of our mistakes!" Reno rushed at Demarath, preparing a Fire cartridge as he went.

"Threat to the planet, maybe, a mistake, definitely, but trash, not in a million years." Demarath swept aside the hair over the right side of his face to reveal a glowing red orb in place of his right eye. As the materia glowed great pillars of ice rose up from the ground and moved to impede Reno. Swinging the Aerith, flames shot forward and cut down the towers in front of him. The two were finally face to face; their weapons clashing spectacularly as Reno barely avoided the razor sharp edge of Demarath's sword.

"So, you've got a materia implanted in your head, that's gross." Reno smirked at his stony faced adversary.

"Gross, but useful. Rise Yukishima!" Reno's face fell as the wind picked up around them and snow began to fall thickly from out of nowhere.

Reno hit the ground hard. Demarath had used a distraction to throw off the Turk, but by all standards, it was one hell of a distraction. Reno sat in shock as an enormous white tiger clawed its way up the side of the building, the great white wings on its back incapable of flight. He stared at the creature, noticing the two long sabre-tooth like fang that hung from its jaw and its enormous wings that seemed to be made from shards of ice that glittered in the moonlight even though the snow still poured from the heavens.

"What the hell is that?! I've never seen a summon like that before." Reno said, getting shakily to his feet.

"Well if Shiva is the Ice Queen, then Yukishima is the God of the frozen hell that awaits you." Demarath explained calmly, raising his sword in indication of the great beast.

"I see, so it's a powerful Ice based summon with blizzards and ice pillars as sub-magic. Okay, I'll admit my odds are pretty bad here, but having survived against a certain Chocobo haired Ex-SOLDIER not once, not twice, but four f**king times! I think I can manage an irate pussy cat and a blue haired sadist with an inferiority complex." Demarath didn't rise to Reno's insults, but simply gripped his sword tighter as his Summon moved to strike.

Reno dodged back as the creature lunged at him and sent another jet of fire flying forward. Yukishima growled, but showed no other sign of injury from the attack. Reno continued to move around in an attempt to avoid the next attack from the creature, but just as he thought he had a good rhythm going Demarath appeared before him and cracked him in the temple with the butt of his sword. Hitting the ground hard, Reno gripped his skull in both fury and pain.  
"Son of a…Why cant you be like every other pansy that uses summons and let it do the work!" He hissed at the man who was now towering above him with his sword raised.

"Die!" Demarath smirked before bringing the sword down.

A howl of pain rung out in the night as the enormous sword pierced Reno's side and spilled considerable amounts of his blood across the cold metal surface they stood upon.

"I'm sorry, when I said die you must've thought it'd be quick. Well allow me to correct you." Demarath leaned on his sword and relished in the expression that came across his victim's face.

"You see, being a 'sadist with an inferiority complex' as you put it, I'm going to let you bask in the glory of the new world before I finish you." Reno forced his head off off the ground in order to look Demarath in the face. The two stared at one another once more until Demarath stood up straight, wrenched his sword from Reno's guts and banished his Summon back to whatever icy pit it crawled out of. Reno rolled over onto his front in pain as his organs shifted to the space the sword once occupied. Keeping one hand on his wound and pushing himself up onto his knees with the other, he was suddenly grabbed by the hair and dragged to the edge of the roof.

Throwing Reno face down in the snow, Demarath looked out over the darkened city.

"You see what's happening here? The tyrannical reign of Shinra finally ends tonight and the new world of anarchy begins. Tonight vengeance is mine and you along with every other worthless parasite that clings to this company dies." Reno forced himself up yet again, looking at the city he saw fires rage and buildings crumble as yet again the city fell to one of their mistakes. Demarath's sword gleamed with red as it was once again raised, but this time the blade drew parallel to Reno's neck. Swinging the blade sideways, Demarath expected blood to spray from the Turk's neck, but instead what he got was blood spurting from his own nose.

Having ducked the blade, Reno threw himself up with all his might into one stupendous head to head collision with the Black Phoenix leader.

"I'll admit we made mistakes, but the two major ones you've made really outweigh those. First off, you arrived about three years too late to teach us the error of our ways, someone beat you to it and second, you picked a fight with the Turks!" Reno drove forward, forgetting all vestiges of style or control and simple resorting to beating Demarath senseless with the Aerith. As he went to swing the finishing blow, Demarath caught his arm; the snow around them stained a deep red with their blood.

"The other one mustn't have told you, I regenerate." The marks that Reno had made against his enemy cleared up almost instantly and the only evidence that any damaged had even occurred was soaking in around their feet.

"Oh no, he told me, I've just been waiting for my hit points to drop."

"What?!" Reno gave a sly grin as he kicked Demarath back towards the edge of the roof. Reno rushed after him and launched himself into the air. As he prepared for his final strike, he thought to himself.

"I know I've made mistakes, but no way in hell am I going to let them hold me back and turn me into a vengeful ghoul like this guy. From now on I'll wear those scars with pride and protect the world you left for us. Hope you're proud, Sis." Reno glowed brightly with blue light, but it quickly faded and was replaced by a thin layer of pale green.

"Hey Demarath, say hi to Sephy for me. Cetra Revival!" White light burst from Reno and engulfed Demarath; it tore through the soldier and stripped him of all the mako than ran thick in his veins. When the light cleared the broad side of a certain black tonfa hit him hard in the jaw and sent him plummeting off the side of the building. Reno landed clumsily on the rooftop and dropped onto his back in exhaustion, the fight was done and he had won…hey that rhymes.

Several months passed and things were finally getting back to normality.

Reno, Rude and Elena all returned to duty after a month of paid vacation.

Doc Esprid had tried several times to get Reno to be a guinea pig for experiments, but failed as her little sister had given him the lab's day planner so he knew what to expect.

Sebastian lost all hearing in his right ear and chose to take an active retirement from the Turks, he now works as a tunnel blaster at the Corel mine and has never been happier.

Tseng, who thanks to his actions had to use a cane for the rest of his life, was to take four months paid vacation, but came back after five weeks when he heard Reno had somehow managed to swallow a pen cap on the job.

Rufus had new security put in place to stop mako enhanced people from setting foot inside the Shinra building, now only Reno has to worry about being attacked at work.

Tifa's bar was rebuilt courtesy of Shinra, but Reno's tab is still to be paid.

Finally, the Shinra power plant was up and running again after seven months of working off of an emergency station. Most people are still wondering why the emergency station wasn't used the night of the attack.


End file.
